Pasxa: New wine project from Bryant (former) / Force Majeure Winemaker

larry_schaffer · May 9, 2021, 4:33pm

Ratings? I thought ‘we’ didn’t care about ratings . . .

Brent_S · May 11, 2021, 2:18am

Larry, Ratings are very useful when you are on the fence, it’s a new producer, it’s no bargain, and you need at least some reference point.

Abhi_M · January 20, 2022, 7:47pm

Bumping this to see if there are any recent tasting notes/impressions on Pasxa wines. Thanks

Steve_Costigan · January 20, 2022, 8:47pm

Haven’t tried any more but I’m buying the new release.

Au_tin_Fl1nk · January 20, 2022, 9:04pm

New here - Hi everyone!

I just purchased the current release also.

I just opened my first yesterday to decide to order or not, '18 River Rock Syrah. Really liked it! It’s not like a Cayuse, etc. This is medium-full body with really great balance. You get the classic rock funk/earth but a good amount of dark fruit comes through on the finish. Medium tannin. I haven’t had the SJR one but curious how it compares to Delmas.

john_stimson · January 21, 2022, 12:04am

Tried the river rock vyd shortly after arrival as I had an extra bottle after a friend declined part of a shared order. Typical WW rocks terroir was present but somewhat restrained, and not at all as up front as it is in Cayuse or Reynvaan. Somewhat more in the style of Rotie, Gramercy or the better Va Piano estate syrahs. Tom Lee’s more detailed notes were accurate, as usual. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt now, but this was not in the league of the best of the best coming from the Rocks District and seems a little ambitiously priced. Gave it a 4 out of 5. Cheers.

Steve, 4/5 is great. Not great hearing “this was not in the league of the best of the best coming from the Rocks District and seems a little ambitiously priced.” I suppose those must be 5/5’s! Which specific wines do you feel are drastically better???

It was very good/excellent, just not as strong as the most exciting wines I’ve had from the Rocks. Those would include several Cayuse (Armada, Cailloux), Reynvaan (top vintages of Stonessence and In the Rocks), and a few bottles that had developed amazingly from Sleight of Hand (Funkadelic). I’d put those wines up against Syrah from anywhere in the world so admittedly that’s a lofty comparison.

I’ve followed and enjoyed the Walls since the beginning. Some of their stuff was very interesting and cool, some just “good”. It will be very interesting to see what Todd is able to do there. I tasted all of the wines there last fall, including the Pasxa wines. Many of the wines for me were just “medium”, but I think the majority were put together by the previous regime. The Pasxa wines I had I think were the 2018’s. They were very good, but not to die for. I would agree with the 4/5 rating. For $85, I can buy Vajra Barolos, Produttori Riservas, and a number of other international wines that I would rather have. However, I don’t think that the '18’s were Todd’s all the way through, so I’m very interested to see what the 19’s are like. Definitely a winery worth watching carefully. (now about that damn bottle shape…)